Bleach
by Ling-Hao
Summary: A one-shot sequel to "Onyx Rain". DO NOT READ IF YOU PREFER ORIGINAL ENDING.


.:It rained for seven days and seven nights:.  
  
.:the storm washed the landscape clean:.  
  
Gaara opened his ashen blue eyes, his auburn hair swirling around him in a halo of hue. Above him was a crystal periscope of the sky that was only available when underwater. Around him was the cerulean haze that backed up his first assumption, and the pressure around him caused the final conclusion that, indeed, he was underwater. He felt his lungs begin to burn with the need for air and his mind drew a blank as to where he was. The last he remembered, he had released his chakra. Then everything had gone black. His lungs began to heave again, and a cloud of bubbles was exhaled through his mouth like dancing pixies, each illuminated by a streak of light. Gaara felt a tightening in his chest - a reminder of the need for air.  
  
Gaara raised an arm in slow motion, his movements restrained somewhat by the weight of water above him. Below him, he could feel the gentle sliding of sand. Gaara sat up and inhaled a deep breath of crystalline air, spraying water and sand granules everywhere. He gasped for breath as oxygen rushed in to restore his aching lungs and revitalize his body. Gaara put a hand to his head. It felt empty, like there was something missing that should've been there, torturing him, haunting him, keeping him awake and in a constant state of alertness. . . .  
  
The tanuki demon. Of course. It was gone?  
  
Once his breathing had returned to normal, Gaara's unfocused, onyx-lined eyes turned to his surrounding environment.  
  
The sky was not blue. Or at least, it wasn't blue from what Gaara could see. Hazy, misty clouds very unlike the storm clouds he had seen before the end swirled in the sky like fingers, reaching out to embrace each other in a comforting way as they lazily padded through the air. They were calm and tame, unlike the fierce, wild clouds of the storm Gaara had remembered previous to them.  
  
The storm he had created. . . it seemed ages had passed since.  
  
Just then, a tear opened in a cloud and the gentle golden caress of a lone sunbeam shone through, illuminating a patch of water some distance from him. Another joined it as if it didn't want one to be all alone, and soon there were several melting off into the distance. The water that Gaara was in was no mere pool, or so he began to realize. It was stretching as far as the horizon, all the same glittering teal full of twinkling reflections of sun and clouds that sparkled in a mesh netting on the water's surface.  
  
There was only one thing that distinguished itself from the ethereal atmosphere that was settling over Gaara.  
  
It was a dune. It was rearing out of the water with proclaimed singularity, and there was only one of it. This was a strange phenomenon, because dunes came only in packs. There was never just one gleaming golden mound of fairy dust sand all on its own. Especially not in the water. The dune did not seem to care whether anyone thought it should exist or not, though.  
  
Gaara got to his feet, his lean body wrapped in a heavy white cloth gray with the water it held - so heavy it almost pulled him back down. This was yet another thing Gaara didn't remember; he had never owned such a garment. Water sprayed in crystal gemstones as he sloshed over to the dune in a slow, observant way.  
  
Now a silhouette had appeared on the dune. It was lying down, as if waiting for someone. It leaned into the dusty dune, showing it didn't care what the effect the quartz sand would have on its long black hair that was entangled with it so thoroughly. As Gaara's progressive- though somewhat hampered - movements drew him closer to the hill of gold, he saw that it was wearing a dove white garment similar to his. Closer still, he realized that 'it' was actually a 'she'.  
  
She had angular features and ageless obsidian stone eyes that you could drown in forever. Her matching silky hair flowed like water down her head and into the sand, as if trying to quench the ever-present thirst of sand for the clear, life-giving liquid. She sat up when Gaara approached, and gave him a small smile that belonged in this timeless, otherworldly atmosphere. She raised a delicate hand and lightly patted the sand next to her, indicating that she wanted him to sit. Gaara obliged this simple, unspoken request, and dropped into the dusty hill next to her, smearing sand on his previously clean clothing.  
  
"I've been waiting for you, Gaara," she whispered, but it was loud enough that he was sure he would have heard it from a hundred miles away.  
  
They sat like that for a while, not talking, merely feeling each other's presence and the comfort that it brought. When words came forth, it was Gaara who spoke, to his companion's surprise.  
  
"I didn't finish cleaning the sand. And then I died. Why am I not in the void?"  
  
Maizul gave him another gentle smile, closing her stone ocean eyes and earnestly replying:  
  
"You did. You bleached it white."  
  
The silence returned, but it was neither overbearing nor uncomfortable. They stayed like that, just sitting near each other and staring at the clouds in their eternal ghostly dance, flickers of shining beams of light occasionally coming and going in a playful way.  
  
"They're called God's fingers," Maizul explained, pointing to one of the slivers of light that caressed the land with a complaisant touch. She suddenly stood, brushing off the motes of gold that had settled on her during her long wait. Gaara followed suit, getting up and copying her example.  
  
"Don't worry," Maizul told him. "You will be redeemed in their eyes. Once they hear who did it, I know you will."  
  
She paused, stretched her sight into the distance, and lifted her index finger to point in one direction, indistinguishable as north, south, east, or west but still going somewhere.  
  
"Come on. Let's go that way," she said.  
  
Gaara didn't argue, but he stepped off of the dune and into the water with a mild splash.  
  
.:wash all the color away so you can start anew:.  
  
.:fin:. 


End file.
